One Voice
by the-strength-in-my-scars
Summary: They were complete opposites,or so Lily thought. But with the Dark Lord's power rising,James and Lily find that they have more in common than they thought as they learn to work together and trust one another. Inspired by "One Voice" by The Wailin' Jennys.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N JULY 4****TH****, 2012: I've re-written Chapters 4 and 5 because they didn't feel authentic to me. I hope that the characters now feel as genuine to you as they now do to me. I took out some parts, I added some parts, I changed things around. Generally, the plot stays pretty much the same, but I didn't like how the climax of Chapter 5 (and you'll know what I mean when you get there) comes to be, so I changed that. Anyway, happy 4****th**** of July to all my American readers; if you're not American, happy Un-Birthday, for that is a holiday that can be celebrated by anyone 364 days out of the year. But now I'm getting sidetracked. I hope you enjoy the newly edited Chapters 4 and 5!**

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><p>Opposites attract, or so the old adage says. Many a romantic comedy movie is based upon this saying. Songs, books, television shows, they all borrow heavily from this adage.<p>

But true opposites repel each other. When opposites attract and when they _work_, it's because there is a common ground, something that links the two souls together to create one voice, one spirit. The flaws in one are the strengths in the other and vice versa, but there must be some similarities between the two.

This is the case of Lily and James. She deemed him an arrogant, bullying toerag and he thought she was snobby, uptight and naïve. But through their hatred of one another, they discovered friendship and eventually, love.

This is the story of how Lily and James became spirit, one soul, connected and separate, joined but independent. This is the story of how Lily and James made the choice to become one voice.

Making your way through King's Cross with a hooting owl in a cage and two trunks on a cart, along with your personal bag, isn't as easy as one might think. Lily huffed, her breath temporarily moved her red curl out of her eyes, but the stubborn strand returned moments later. Her cheeks flushed from the heat and from the effort it took for the 48-kilogram teenager to push a cart that probably weighed half of what she did, shown in the wrinkles in her white top and jean shorts.

She stopped to catch her breath in front of the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, her torso rising in spurts as she regulated her breathing. Shutting her eyes as she did every year (there was always some small part of her that feared every time of crashing into the brick wall to discover that yes, it really was a brick wall and not the gateway to the magical world she loved so much), Lily Evans sprinted toward the wall. When she opened them, she found herself on Platform 9 ¾, surrounded by countless parents giving hurried instructions to their children, last minute kisses and hugs, loud and joyful reunions among friends and tears goodbye from scared parents.

Lily watched a particular family as the mother triple-checked the young child's clothing and trunk, the father stood by with a small, bemused smile on his face, and the boy's face flushed with embarrassment. She raked her eyes over the parents longingly, the knot in her throat grow larger by each second that ticked away on the large clock that sat on the wall, the burning behind her eyes threatening to expose her feelings.

The wound was still fresh; it had only been eight weeks since her parents had died. Lily had been curled up in a ball on her bed under her duvet, cramps making it impossible to move, when she pleaded her mother to go out and get her chocolate and movies to watch. Her mum, at first, didn't want to, but her dad eventually persuaded Mrs. Evans to leave with the promise of accompanying her. They'd been on their way back from the store when a drunk driver had struck their car, killing Lily's dad instantly and hospitalizing Mrs. Evans. The following days had been the hardest, Lily watching her mum turn from bad to worse, her aged skin turning yellow, her drifting out of consciousness and eventually, her last breath.

_Bam!_

Lily felt the sharp jab of pain to her back jolt her out of her memories, jerking her forward and sprawling onto the cold concrete of the platform. Her cart spun to the left, spilling her trunk and owl out. Her palms and kneecaps stung with the assault as Lily lifted herself up gingerly and spun around to yell at whomever it was who'd knocked her over, her cheeks flushed with anger this time.

"Watch where you're-Remus?" The redhead yelled and then letting her voice fall back to a normal volume when she recognized her friend Remus Lupin, a fellow prefect and seventh year at Hogwarts.

The lanky boy in front of her smiled kindly, wiping his dusty hands on his jeans before pulling Lily into a hug.

"Hey Lils!" He muttered in her ear as they embraced, a smile on his face that was echoed on hers. "How was your summer?"

He hadn't known, of course, and that was the way that Lily fully intended to keep it. Of course Professor Dumbledore had to know, and Professor McGonagall as her Head of House and her teachers, but none of her friends would know of the death of Lily's parents. So Lily swallowed the ever-growing knot and plastered a fake smile on her face, replying,

"Fantastic! How about yours?" The pair bent down, retrieving their belongings and moving out of the way for other students to get through.

Remus grimaced and shrugged. "It was okay. You know how parents can get, nagging you about every little thing." At that moment, Lily privately wished desperately to have that nagging back. "But I guess it was okay. James and Sirius and Peter and I played a fair bit of Quidditch, so that was nice."

"Are you thinking of trying out for the House team?" Lily asked as they heaved their trunks onto the designated shelves in the crevice of the train.

"Nah, I think I'll leave the showing off to James and Sirius," Remus joked with a smirk on his face, and Lily let out a chuckle, turning to face her friend. "And congratulations on getting Head Girl! Not that it was much of a surprise to see the badge on your shirt, but still, congratulations!" He pointed to the shiny bronze badge that was pinned to Lily's shirt. She beamed at him.

"Thanks, Remus! Honestly, I was expecting you to get Head Boy," she said as they boarded the train and strolled through the small walkway. "Do you know who did?"

Remus scratched the back of his neck and shifted his weight from foot to foot, but before he could answer the question, Sirius Black had crept up on the pair.

"Hey there, Lils!" Sirius boomed in his deep baritone, scooping her into a bear hug and setting her down roughly after a few moments. "Hey Moony," he said, grinning at Remus before hugging him tightly.

"How was your summer, Sirius?" Lily inquired. The handsome boy put on the famous Marauder smirk that were so identical among the four members that Lily swore they must have practiced in the mirror.

"Obviously not as brilliant without my favorite rule-abiding, redheaded prefect!" He sighed dramatically. "But somehow, Prongs, Moony and Wormtail managed to entertain me for a few seconds here and there."

Lily smiled and shook her head slightly at the boy's exaggerated reply.

The trio wandered about the train, towering over the miniscule first years and the slightly taller second and third years, until they finally found an empty compartment.

Sirius flopped down onto the bench, stretching his lanky body out until he covered the entire seat meant for five people. Lily chuckled as she and Remus sat down across from him.

"Now, Red, I know that you being Head Girl and all, you're going to want to take away a lot of house points for our elaborate, entertaining, extraordinary-"

"Childish pranks?" Lily interrupted, an eyebrow cocked, arms folded and a bemused smile rested on her lips that mimicked her father's.

"They're not childish!" Sirius proclaimed, reminding Lily of a child stomping its foot, wanting chocolate. "But yes, our pranks. And I should remind you that Gryffindor is your house too-"

"Because y'know Sirius, after six years, I'm suddenly a case of amnesia and forgetting everything," Lily joked drily.

"Amn-_what?"_ Sirius replied.

"Never mind."

"Anyway, Gryffindor is your House too and if it's your fault that we lose to Slytherin in the House Cup our last year at Hogwarts, then our entire House is going to be against you."

"Gee, thanks for the warning. I'm glad that my responsible attitude is met with such enthusiasm."

"The majority of the student body doesn't think it's a 'responsible attitude' and more like a 'I've-got-a-stick-up-my-arse' attitude." Lily smacked Sirius on the arm, hard.

Settling against the cushion that supported her back, she shook her head. Why she put up with these idiots, she had no idea.

"Where's Peter?" she questioned. _And let us not forget the one with the ego the size of a country, Potter._

"He and Prongs are getting their backs onto the train right now, they got here late," Sirius explained.

"I heard my name! Were you talking about me?" James Potter proclaimed loudly as he wrenched the sliding door open.

"There you are. Yeah, we were," Sirius said.

"No doubt you and Evans were talking about how brilliant I am," James teased, grinning widely. Lily rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I was asking where _Peter_ was and Sirius mentioned your name," Lily responded.

"Couldn't resist, eh, mate?"

"You know how I can barely stand it when you leave me, even for a few seconds!" Sirius cried dramatically, clutching his chest.

"Shut it, Sirius, you know how people already think we're gay," James replied, laughing even as he berated his friend.

"Even with your reputation of shagging everything in a skirt, Sirius?" Lily challenged her friend, the same bemused smile on her face.

"Especially because of that, Lils," Sirius replied, winking at her. Lily rolled her eyes and uncrossed her long legs, standing up.

"If you two are done stroking each other's egos-assuming that's the only part of each other that you stroke," Lily teased, causing all four boys to burst out in laughter, "-I'm going to go to the prefect's compartment for the meeting."

Shaking her head but with a smile on her stunning face, she left the compartment.

The only thought that went through Lily's mind as she carefully set out the materials for the first prefect meeting of the year was her curiosity as to who the Head Boy was. Not only did she have to work closely with him, but they would be sharing the private Heads Dorm and going on rounds together, so it was pretty important that it was someone that she could get along with.

_Maybe it's Reg Cattermole from Hufflepuff, he was always smart and nice,_ Lily thought. _Or Benjy Fenwick. _Lily smiled softly when she thought of the handsome and charismatic Benjy. _I wouldn't mind it if was Benjy. It has to be someone from one of the other houses, because Remus was picked and-_

Her thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the _click_ sound of the door opening. She spun around and saw James Potter standing there, his hands shoved into his front jean pockets, shoulders slightly hunched. His hair seemed even messier than before, if that was possible, and he stared at her through his round-rimmed glasses. This was the first time that Lily had properly seen James since the end of last year, when she'd hexed him after catching him trying out the newest spell on a first year.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" Lily asked, frowning. "This is the prefects compartment."

"I know," James replied. A flurry of movement caught Lily's eye and she found herself looking at James' jeans, straining a little too long on a _certain_ part of his anatomy, and watched as he pulled something out of his pocket, his fingers remaining in a tight fist. He unclenched his fingers and revealed a small bronze badge that matched Lily's.

Lily's jaw dropped. "_Y-you're_ Head Boy?"

James chuckled. "Believe me, I was just as shocked this summer when I got the letter as you are right now."

"The old man's gone mad," Lily said in disbelief. "He has to have gone mad." James frowned slightly and stepped closer to Lily so that he was right in front of her, his gaze locked in hers, emerald on hazel. Lily found herself unable to draw her eyes away.

"Lily, I know that I haven't been the biggest rule follower in the past, but this year is different. _I'm_ different. I-I really want to do this well," he said, stumbling on the last bit as he struggled to put words to his feelings. Lily noticed that she hadn't been breathing the last few seconds and her chest was aching in protest. _He'd called her_ _Lily. What was _that _about?_

"Potter, I know that we-" Lily's attempt to understand James was suddenly cut short as the prefects from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw began filing in.

_I may not know much. I may not know how to do a French plait or the intricacies of chess or how to understand the behaviour of a boy in the slightest, but I do know that this is going to be one hell of a year._

Hope you guys liked it! Please leave me your comments on what you think of the first chapter.

Adina


	2. Chapter 2

"Why do we have to do patrols? Hogwarts is the safest place in the Wizarding World, we don't need to patrol," Carrie Jones, the sixth year prefect from Hufflepuff, whined. The rest of the prefects murmured their assent. Lily sighed exasperatedly internally, closing her eyes and summoning her patience.

"Because, since it seems that you've been in a hole the last few years, there's a man out there named Voldemort and he's gaining followers, including at Hogwarts," Lily shot back. James rested his palm on Lily's shoulder. Lily tensed up and spun around, eyes glaring. She was exhausted and so sick of the prefects challenging her every word. James bent his head down, causing Lily to jerk away slightly. But he continued to bend down until his lips were at her ear, both of their hearts pounding against their ribs.

"Calm down, Evans, " he whispered in her ear. "Let me handle this." She hesitated, but nodded slightly. James smiled slightly and then straightened up to face the prefects. "Lily's right, guys. Voldemort's getting more followers by the hour and there's no better recruiting place than Hogwarts. We need to patrol so Lily and I will be making up a timetable with everyone's patrol times-"

"What about Quidditch?" Daniel Porter interjected.

"And our clubs?" Shouted the seventh year Ravenclaw prefect, Anna Robbins. James held up his hand as if to silence them and said,

"We'll make sure that it doesn't interfere with Quidditch or clubs." James smirked. "After all, we have to make sure that Gryffindor beats all of your arses in Quidditch fair and square." Lily rolled her eyes as the prefects laughed. "You all are dismissed," James said. "There's another meeting this Thursday in Professor McGonagall's classroom. If you're not there, I will hunt you down and dismember you," he said loudly over the sound of chairs scraping.

Lily went around, gathering up all the loose papers. Her back was hunched, her uniform was wrinkled and her eyes, tired. "Don't beat yourself up, Evans, there's really no need to be upset," James said, attempting to comfort her as he handed her the last few papers.

"Why? Because they so obviously won't listen to me and then fall all over you?" She retorted, eyes blazing with anger and hurt. "Why on Earth would that make me upset?" She stuffed the papers in her bag and sighed, eyes downcast as she added, "I'm not like you, Potter. I worked really hard for this and I just…I really want to do well, okay?" The last sentence was whispered and James could tell just how hurt she was.

"Hey, look at me," James said, putting his hand on Lily's arm, He held her gaze, trying to communicate to her how much he believed the words that he was about to say. "Lily, you're the most brilliant person that I know. There's no one in any of the four houses who could be a better Head Girl than you. The others will see that soon." He dropped his eyes from hers, the intensity of their closeness catching up to his mind. Stepping away from her, he rumpled his messy raven hair with his left hand. The silence hung in the air between them for several long, awkward moments.

"You called me Lily," she finally said, a wry smile appearing on her face. James grinned back, chuckling a bit.

"Yeah, I guess that I did." He turned to go, his bag slung over his broad shoulders.

"And Potter?" Lily called as he turned the doorknob.

"Yes?" He replied, turning back to her.

"Thank you. For what you said." A small smile appeared on her face.

"You're welcome, Evans." With that, James left the compartment.

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><p>"Alright boys, are we all ready?" Sirius asked the other Marauders. They all grinned crookedly and nodded, adrenaline for their first big prank of the year running through their bodies.<p>

The rest of the school was obliviously munching on the delectable array of food that lay before them-piles of chicken, asparagus, potatoes and steaming rolls with thick butter put on them. Each Marauder was crouched under James' Invisibility Cloak, the cloak not able to hide all four of them when they stood upright. As they quickly walked from the Gryffindor table to the Slytherin one, they overheard many conversations, ranging from small ones about the summer to gossip spoken in hushed tones.

"Blimey, the girls here really are stupid," Remus muttered as they walked past a few Gryffindor third years.

James snickered and then felt the familiar scent of strawberries fill his nose. His heart started pounding against his ribs so loudly that he could hear it in his ears.

"You alright, Prongsie?" Sirius asked. James closed his eyes and started breathing out of his mouth, the pounding settling down as he took in each breath. He was only able to catch a fleeting glimpse of her, provided by the fact that every time her red head moved, it caught his attention.

"Yeah. Let's get moving." The boys walked until they were halfway to the Slytherin table.

"_Oof_," Remus muttered. "Jesus, Wormy, can't you walk so your feet don't _always stomp on mine?_" He seethed through his teeth.

"Sorry," the smaller boy whimpered.

"Here we are, boys," James said. Each boy pulled six identical red boxes from their pockets.

"On the count of three-" Sirius started.

"Wait!" Peter interrupted. The other three turned to glare at him.

"What?" Sirius asked, glaring at Peter.

"Are we going _on_ three or _after_ three?" Peter asked. The rest of the Marauders groaned.

"For the last time Wormtail, we go _after_ three," James muttered.

"Now can we go?" Sirius demanded in a hushed whisper and Peter nodded his assent. "Okay, one…two…three!" Each boy simultaneously threw the boxes at the Slytherin table.

_BANG!_

Thick red smoke filled the air, forcing everyone in the Hall to cough. When the smoke cleared, every Slytherin was covered in red paint, their hair standing up on top of their heads. Their eyes filled with horror as they saw what they looked like and some started shrieking when they saw that as much water as they scrubbed their skin with, the red paint would not come off.

The Marauders doubled over with laughter at the expressions of some of the older Slytherins, exchanging a round of high fives at their handy work. Much of the school was laughing as well at what they'd done and quite a few teachers too. James looked over to the Gryffindor table, his eyes searching for one particular face. When he found her, he saw that her lips were pressed together in a thin line and her eyes were angry. His laughter died away quickly.

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><p>Lily watched Severus and his friends scowl as they tried vigorously to scrub the paint off of their bodies. She turned, saw the four Marauders laughing hysterically and she pursed her lips in disgust.<p>

_How dare he,_ she thought. _He's supposed to be our freaking Head Boy and he's pranking the Slytherins in order to have a laugh with his mates. He's SUPPOSED to be a role model for these kids and instead, he's a delinquent. And I thought that he'd changed._

"That's hilarious!" Mary McDonald said, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.

"I can't believe that he did that," Lily said, infuriated.

"What?" Emmeline Vance asked.

"I cannot believe that he just pranked them! He's supposed to be responsible. He's the fucking Head Boy, for goodness sake!" Lily ranted. She folded her arms against her chest and narrowed her eyes at the four Marauders, still gloating over their prank.

"C'mon, Lily, give him a break. He's got to have a little fun now and then," Emmeline replied.

"Yes, well, not this kind of fun. Not this year." Lily stood up and marched out of the room in a huff.

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><p>The door to his room banged open. James sat upright, the magazine in his hands dropping onto the floor.<p>

"What the HELL were you thinking, Potter?" Lily demanded, her face flushed.

"What?" He managed to get out.

"What a _spectacular_ response, Potter. What the hell were you thinking, pulling a prank like that?" James stood up, towering over Lily.

"I was just itching to prank the Slytherins, Evans. They should be reminded what pompous gits they are. And whose house is superior." He looked down at her and couldn't help but thinking how beautiful she looked like at that moment with her rosy cheeks, blazing eyes and smooth, white skin. He curled his hands into fists, resisting the urge to touch her skin.

"Don't you understand, Potter? Being Head Boy means that you can't do those things anymore. You have to be a good example," Lily said, speaking as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Why is that, Evans? Why do I have to be the prime example of good-doing around here?" James challenged, stepping closer to her until there was a few centimetres between their faces.

"Because that's what it means to be Head Boy, Potter," she spit out.

"What if that's not the kind of Head Boy that I want to be?" He asked in a softer voice.

"That's the kind of Head Boy that Hogwarts needs right now. In case you haven't noticed, there's a war going on out there and the Hogwarts students need a leader. They need someone who is going to be there for them as someone to help them through the tough times and who is going to show them what they can become if they work hard enough. They need someone who will guide them and help them through this war, Potter. And you need to be that person."

"That's a nice speech Evans, but that's not the person that I want to be." James felt his anger rising. "And thanks for telling me that there's a war going on, I didn't really know. I didn't know when the Daily Prophet screams it from the headlines or when half my family fucking _died_ trying to stop Voldemort!" He screamed the last sentence at her. "So thanks for the newsflash about there being a war going on, I really didn't know." James spun around and walked back toward his bed. It was a few awkward moments before Lily spoke.

"I'm sorry about your family, Potter, I am. But that just proves that you need to be a leader for these kids. You need to help defeat Voldemort and right now, that includes being a good role model for the younger students." James didn't turn around, his shoulders relaxing as her words sunk in. After a few seconds, he heard the quiet sound of her feet walking away and the _click_ sound of the door closing. He exhaled inaudibly and sat down on his bed.

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><p><strong>Okay, that's it guys. Please review with your comments, suggestions, etc. Thanks for reading!<strong>

**Adin**


	3. Chapter 3

It was a sanctuary. With its high glass windows, rich wood tables that were just the right size for a person to fully spread out their belongings and the sweeping stacks and stacks of books, the library was a wonderful place. Lily loved to go there for some quiet time alone; with the ruckus that was always going on in the common room, it was hard to get any work done. She would run her fingers over the spines of the books, loving how her fingertips followed their specific ridges. When she opened a book that was brand new, there was an incredible _smell_ that emanated from its pages that she decided was fresh parchment and new ink and unstained pages.

Everything about the library was beautiful.

That is, until the Marauders decided to plan pranks there.

The Marauders thought that because it was largely uninhabited most of the time, no one would be there to overhear their secret plans. But once Valerie Fisher saw them enter the first time, she gaped at them and sprinted to grab the rest of the fifth year Ravenclaw girls. The gaggle of girls spent the rest of the night sitting at the table across the aisle from the Marauders and peeking out of the corner of their eyes to watch the boys.

Valerie Fisher, though a lowly fifth year, was very popular. Most of the female population of Hogwarts thought that she was a little too friendly, particularly to some of their boyfriends, but Valerie was so nice to their faces that any animosity they had for her soon vanished. So naturally, once Valerie knew something, the entire Ravenclaw house knew it and the Hufflepuffs soon knew it as well, with the other two houses following soon thereafter. The record that it took for Valerie to spread a piece of gossip until every student at Hogwarts knew was exactly four hours, thirty-seven minutes and twelve seconds, as timed by her friends.

So when Valerie Fisher knew that the Marauders had started congregating in the library, most of the school knew by the next morning and by the next evening, Lily found herself fighting with a second year girl for her favorite seat.

"As your Head Girl, I am ordering you to let me sit there!" Lily cried, exasperated.

"Well unless you're the Minister of Magic, you're not getting this seat," the younger girl retorted. "The Marauders are sitting right over there and I promised Samantha that I'd tell her what happened tonight." Lily narrowed her eyes and craned her back down until she was at eye level with the second year.

Speaking in a slow, low tone, she said, "Do you want to know how I got to be Head Girl? I didn't get it just because I'm smart, I got the job because I'm determined. And so help me, if you do not give up your seat so I can do my NEWT level course work, there will not be a rock that you can hide under where I will not find you and make you pay." The girl's breathing became uneven and her eyes widened. But she wasn't looking at Lily; she was looking past Lily.

"Intimidating the younger kids now, are we, Evans?" James said from behind Lily. She sighed, straightened up and turned around to face her fellow Head. He was leaning against the corner of a bookshelf, his arms crossed and the famous smirk upon his lips. Lily rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, James had crossed the threshold and stood in front of the second year girl. "Hi, what's your name?" He asked the younger girl, his smirk more prominent than ever.

The second year swallowed visibly.

"B-brooke," she replied.

"Hi Brooke, I'm James." James held out his hand to shake Brooke's.

"Hi James." Lily rolled her eyes again. Was there no one at Hogwarts beside her that didn't succumb to the charm of James Potter?

"Brooke, can I ask you for a favor?" The younger girl nodded. "My friend Lily here, as crazy and demented as she may seem, really needs to get some studying done."

Lily frowned a little bit. Potter never did anything nice for anyone unless he was getting something in return. So what was he playing at? "See, if she doesn't get all of her homework done four days in advance, her head explodes."

Brooke giggled. _And there's Potter again,_ Lily thought. "Hey, it's a serious condition, don't laugh!" James said, snickering too. "But all kidding aside, she can really only do her homework if she sits in this one chair-don't ask me why, it's a savant thing-so I would really, really appreciate it if you could let her sit there." Brooke smiled and nodded, gathering up her things and leaving.

"Why did you do that?" Lily asked once James had straightened up again.

"Because if you can't get this chair, then you'd have to go to the common room in the Head's dorm and the boys and I wanted to play cards in there," he replied.

"I should have known that it was a purely selfish reason," Lily said, putting her things down on the table and sitting in her chair.

"I think the words that you're trying to say are 'Thank you, James, for being so nice and for getting me my favorite chair in the library'." Lily rolled her eyes again. "What's with you and this one chair anyway?" Lily was about to reply hotly, defending herself against his mockery, but when she looked up, she saw genuine curiosity in his eyes.

"I've sat in this chair every day to do my homework every day since I got to Hogwarts. I can't concentrate anywhere else."

"Why not?" James pressed gently, sitting halfway onto her table so his bum was on the wood, but his gangly legs dangled off of the side.

Lily shrugged. She didn't really know the answer herself.

"I guess it's because everywhere else feels wrong." James smiled slightly.

"So you sit here because this is the only place that you feel comfortable in."

"I guess you could say it that way, yeah," Lily said, looking directly into James' eyes. She was struck by how deep their hazel colour seemed to go and how they seemed to lock in her own emerald irises and how it felt like she couldn't look away and how her breath started getting caught in her chest, resulting in sporadic breathing. After a few seconds of awkward silence, she broke their eye contact. "A-anyway, I should get to work."

"Right, I should too," James replied, hopping off of her table.

"If you could call what you do 'work'," Lily joked, smiling.

"Hey! It's hard work!" James protested, pretending that he was wounded by her words.

"Riiiiightttt," she said in a disbelieving tone.

"Goodbye, Evans!" James yelled over his shoulder as he walked away, smiling to himself. Lily chuckled and shook her head.

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><p>She tried to study, she really did. She had attempted her Ancient Runes essay at least four times and her Potions homework was practically all black from the crossing out and rewriting of sentences, but Lily couldn't concentrate. Not with the annoyingly loud laughing and general ruckus that the Marauders caused. Finally fed up, she slammed her book down on her table and stormed over to their table, her fiery hair streaming behind her.<p>

"I know that your brains are small because of how little work you lot do, but in case you didn't see the sign outside, this is the _library_, which means that you have to be _quiet!"_ She berated them in hushed tones. Remus frowned, Peter looked confused and James and Sirius were infuriated.

"What in the hell is your problem, Evans?" Sirius asked.

"My problem is that you won't be quiet enough for the rest of us to concentrate!"

"Well, maybe you should get it through _your_ brain, Evans, that you can't control everyone! Now get remove that stick from where it is lodged so far up your ass and let us have some fun? Are you not allowed to have fun?" Sirius smirked, the final punch line coming to him. "Oh, I forgot, you don't have any friends to have fun with, Evans. You're alllllll alone." Lily inhaled sharply and spun around, walking back to her table and gathering up her things, determined to leave the library before the hot tears escaped.

* * *

><p>"What the HELL was that, Sirius?" James yelled, turning to his best friend once Lily was gone.<p>

"You heard her, she was calling us stupid and telling us what to do! What I said was completely justified," Sirius defended.

"Sirius, I'm not saying that what she did was nice, but I think you went a step too far, mate," Remus said calmly.

"Why are you guys jumping down my throat? _She_ was the one who said all those bad things about us! Why are you defending her?" Sirius was now yelling too.

"BECAUSE YOU WERE A FUCKING ARSEHOLE TO HER!" James shrieked.

"Shhhhh, this is a _library!"_ Madam Pince, the youthful librarian who worked there, reprimanded. The boys mumbled apologies and then turned back to each other.

"Why do you care, anyway, mate? I thought you hated Evans," Sirius asked. James scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"I never really _hated_ her, per se, I just…didn't like her."

"Right, so all of those times when you pranked her because you said that she deserved it-" Remus began.

"Like the time that you poured hot cocoa down her back or painted her entire face maroon with a charm and her face was red for a week because she couldn't get it off or the time when you kept putting sticking charms on her bum so that she couldn't get up from her chair," Sirius interrupted.

"-and all of those times where you would barge into our room yelling how much you hated Evans were just…what, exactly?" Remus finished, the smirk upon his lips.

"I was just blowing off some steam," James replied, standing up, "Anyway, I have to go organize the patrols timetable, so I'll see you later."

Once James was gone, Sirius turned to Remus.

"What the hell is up with him?" Remus shrugged.

"No idea, mate, no idea."

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><p><strong>Alright, that's the end of Chapter 3! I hope that you guys liked it. I would really appreciate some constructive criticismfeedback in reviews, so if you have any, feel free to let me know. **

**Reviews are fantastic because they give me the swift kick in the arse (still in English mode after writing this XD) to keep writing. **

**-Adina**


	4. Chapter 4

Lily Evans hated crying. She hated the salty taste of the tears, how her nose seemed to never stop running and she hated the redness of her eyes when she cried. When she needed to cry, she would lock herself somewhere private and get all her emotions out as quickly and noiselessly as possible. She didn't want other people to see her cry because they'd think she was weak.

And that's why on the night of September fifteenth, after Sirius had made fun of her in front of all the Marauders and the "Marauder groupies" as she called them, Lily ran up to the gargantuan Head dormitory, slammed the door to her room shut, buried her head in one of the snow-coloured pillows and let her body heave with sobs.

"Evans, are you in there?" She heard a distant voice calling out to her. She lifted her head off of her pillow and looked in the direction the voice had come from.

"Who's there?"

"Lily, it's James." Lily quickly got up, rubbed her eyes vigorously in a vain attempt to dry them and walked over to the door. She swung it open to reveal James on the other side, looking at her with pity.

"What do you want, Potter?"

"I just came to see if you were alright after, um, you know." James ruffled his hair awkwardly, not knowing quite what to say.

"After your best mate humiliated me and called me a friendless loser, you mean. Well, I'm just dandy, thanks for asking. And thanks for coming over; bye, Potter!" Lily tried to close the door, but James stopped it with his hand, pushing the door back open.

"Look, Evans, I know what Sirius did was wrong, but you have to admit, you were kind of being a bit rude too."

"Are you insane? I was perfectly fine! Sirius was the one who told me that I was a bookworm who didn't know how to have fun and that I had no friends; he was the one who belittled me in front of half the school!" Lily yelled furiously, her hands on her hips and her face becoming more and more red with anger.

"You called us stupid people with small brains, Evans. And it wasn't half the school, it was maybe a quarter of the school," James replied in a calm tone. "And Sirius absolutely _hates_ it when people embarrass him so he was just trying to get back at you for what you said about us."

"Oh, so that makes what he did okay?" Lily retorted.

"No, it doesn't. It wasn't right for him to say those things, but I thought it would be good for you to know why he said what he did."

"Well you accomplished what you came here to do, Potter, congratulations. Would you like a cookie as a reward?" Lily said sarcastically.

"While a cookie sounds fantastic right now, I'm going to have to say no. Thanks for offering, though!" Lily rolled her eyes at James' response and he grinned at her. "Seriously, Evans, are you all right?" Lily narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Why did you even come here, Potter? I know you didn't want to really check up on me, so why are you here?" James frowned.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because the only people that you care about are your family and the Marauders."

"That's not true, Evans. I do care about you." He thought for a second. "You know how you were lecturing me a little bit ago about how I need to be a leader for the kids at Hogwarts?" Lily nodded, "Well you're a leader too. People here respect how smart you are and how determined you are. And so the school needs you." James hesitated, but said, "_I_ need you. I'm just one man, I can't do this job by myself, Lily."

Lily didn't even know where to start after he finished talking. So naturally, the least awkward thing to say was what she went with.

"Who are you and what have you done with James Potter?" James laughed and when their joined laughter died, she added, "Thanks, Potter."

"You're welcome, Lils," James replied, grinning widely. Lily glared at him.

"Do NOT call me 'Lils'. Only my friends get to call me that. And only very, very rarely."

"I'd like for us to be friends," James replied. "If it's okay with you, that is." Lily smiled wryly.

"I'll think about it." With that, she shut the door in his face. "Oh, and Potter?" She called out from behind the wood that separated them.

"Yes?"

"I'm not above taking bribes in order to convince me to become your friend." He laughed and Lily privately thought, for a fleeting moment, that she liked listening to him laugh.

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><p>The next morning's breakfast was…odd. Lily sat next to a few other of the Gryffindor seventh year girls, not listening to their conversation at all. She kept replaying the night before over and over again in her mind.<p>

"Um, Lily?" A voice interrupted her daydreaming. Looking up, she saw Sirius there, with the three other Marauders standing behind him.

"What do you want, Black?" She spit out, still too furious to be civil toward him.

"I just, uh, wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday. It wasn't right of me to say what I did." James cleared his throat loudly behind Sirius, causing the latter to spin around and look at the former. James widened his eyes purposefully, but Sirius still didn't understand until James whispered through clenched teeth,

"The gift." Sirius' face lit up in understanding, turning back to Lily, who felt her anger slipping away bit by bit.

"Right, the gift. Yeah, so I got you this chocolate from Honeydukes," he said, placing the small box on the table in front of her.

"Thank you for your apology, Sirius," Lily said sincerely. Relief washed over Sirius' face as he smiled back at her. "And I'm sorry too. It wasn't nice of me to make fun of you either. I really shouldn't have said what I did, and I'm truly sorry."

"Lily, we really need to get to class," Mary said gently, interrupting the conversation.

"Yeah, we should go." Lily stood up from the bench and was about to leave when she turned back around. "Sirius?" She called. Sirius whipped around at the sound of his name.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for your apology. It means a lot." He smiled at her before walking away with Remus and Peter, but Lily wasn't looking at Sirius. She had found James' eyes. "Potter, why do I think that Sirius didn't come up with the idea to apologize to me all on his own?" James did his best to look innocent, but the expression was so foreign on the prankster's face that Lily burst out laughing at the half-twisted look.

"Whatever do you mean, Evans?" James said after Lily had caught her breath.

"You had something to do with that, didn't you?"

"I can neither confirm or deny that fact." Lily laughed again and James winked at her before he ran off to catch up with his mates.

"Marley, I think I'm going deaf and blind all at the same time," Mary said on Lily's right as the three started walking to Potions.

"Why? What's wrong?" Marlene said.

"Because I swear that I just saw Lily Evans and James Potter being-dare I say it? Yes, I do-CIVIL to each other?" Mary claimed in an astonished voice, placing a hand over her heart dramatically.

"Why Mary dear, I think I saw that too. We must both be going mad!"

"Oh hush," Lily said. The three had never been exactly _good _friends, but they were friendly enough to joke with one another.

"Seriously, Lily, what just happened there?" Mary asked as they sped down the hallway. Lily shrugged.

"Potter and I decided that it would be better if we, as the Heads of the School, weren't at each other's throats all the time, that's all." Lily walked ahead of the other two as they entered the classroom.

"Do you really think they'll actually be nice to each other?" Mary asked Marlene in a low voice.

"Not a chance," Marlene replied. "Two Galleons says they won't last a week before fighting again."

"I'll take that bet," Mary said, smiling.

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><p>"I still maintain that Peter was the one who put the batwings in the cauldron instead of the flobberworm mucus," Sirius claimed as the four cleaned all the seventh year's cauldrons in the Potions dungeons that night.<p>

"It was not! I was getting to lavender from the storage cupboard!" Peter protested loudly.

"One of you were the person who blew up our cauldron. And regardless of which one of you were the one to actually do it, all four of us are in detention and we'll get it done quicker if we just shut up, okay?" Remus lashed out at them bitterly and the other three looked in his direction in shock.

"What's got your knickers in a bunch, Moony?" Sirius said finally.

"It's not your time of the month for another week," James added, causing Sirius and Peter to snicker and Remus to roll his eyes.

"Did you have a hot date or something, Moony my boy?" Sirius said when he stopped laughing.

"If you must know, I was supposed to meet someone tonight," Remus said after a few moments.

_Clang!_

Sirius had dropped his scrub brush in his cauldron.

"WHAT?" Sirius and James yelled together.

"You. A date. With a girl?" James added in a shocked voice.

"No, Prongs, with a Drangible Plum. Yes, with a girl. Though it wasn't a date, we were just going to study together," Remus replied.

"And by study, you mean you'd study her anatomy, right?" Sirius chimed in.

"NO! We're _just_ going to study…and books, Sirius, not her anatomy."

"Oh, Moony, you take all the fun out of life."

"One of us has to be the responsible one, Padfoot." Sirius rolled his eyes and the four returned to scrubbing the cauldrons.

The four Marauders finally stumbled into the Gryffindor common room at half past ten that night. They were expecting to find the common room deserted, but one figure sat in the corner, hunched over a pile of books with a quill in their hand.

"Lily, you're still here?" Remus asked. Lily's head shot up at the mention of her name.

"Remus, hi. Erm, yeah, I'm just finishing up some last minute work," Lily replied.

"Listen, Lily, I'm sorry about tonight. I really wish that I could have been here to work on the project together, but you know Slughorn-" Remus started. James felt a dropping sensation in his stomach when he realized that the person Remus was supposed to meet that night was Lily. He didn't know what it meant.

"It's completely fine, Remus. I understand." She smiled at him and gathered up her things. Remus grinned back in relief. Lily was halfway out the portrait door and the Marauders were halfway up the stairs when James called out,

"Hey, Lily!" Lily turned around.

"Yes?"

"I was hoping that we could finalize the patrol schedule soon."

"Sure. How does tomorrow night sound?"

"I'll have to check my overflowing social calendar to see if I can pencil you in around 8:23," Lily said drily, causing the left corner of James' lips to raise slightly. "Hm, I think I can do it. Meet me in our common room at eight, all right, Potter?"

"What happened to meeting at 8:23?" The infamous Marauder smirk was back.

"I canceled a few appointments to fit you in."

"For me? Aw, Evans you shouldn't have!" James put his hand to his chest in a mock-touched manner, a faux innocent look on his face.

"Shut up, Potter," Lily replied, rolling her eyes and turning back around to walk away. James' eyes drifted from her swinging fire hair to the small of her back to the soft curves of her bum outlined by her uniform and the shapely legs that descended from under the regulation skirt. His fingers itched to run themselves over her smooth skin…his attention momentarily drifting, James blink, hard, twice before calling out to her,

"We can't have people thinking we're friends now, can we?" Lily turned around with a smirk on her face that rivaled the Marauder's trademark.

"Oh, Potter. Trust me when I say that the Hogwarts students know an urban myth when they hear one." Spinning lightly on the ball of her shoe, Lily Evans turned and strode away with a smile on her face, leaving James Potter in desperate need of a very, very cold shower.

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><p><strong>Well guys, that's Chapter 4! I hope you liked it. As always, reviews are brilliant because they give me motivation to write more. And constructive criticism is always appreciated :)<strong>

**-Adina**


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh bloody hell," Sirius muttered the next morning, clutching his stomach. "I think I ate too much."

"Considering you ate the equivalent of what six third-years eat for breakfast today, I'm not surprised," Remus commented.

"Look who's talking! After the-" Putting his hands on the table and leaning in, Sirius lowered his voice "-full moon, you practically eat out Honeydukes, Moony!"

As the two bickered, James yawned.

"You all right there, Prongs?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, I'm just beat. I didn't sleep well last night," James replied.

"That's because you were tossing and turning all night, muttering your head off. I'm surprised that that pretty little head of yours didn't explode from all that mumbling," Remus offered.

"That would have been a funny sight: Prongs' head shooting through our ceiling," Sirius put in.

"You think his head would've blasted its way through our ceiling?" An astonished Peter added.

"Sure! Look at this-" Sirius leaned over and rapped his knuckles on James' head, "-it echoes already. That skull is so thick, it could shoot its way through anything," a wicked grin now surfaced on those sought-after lips, "though sometimes I think it's so full of air that-"

"All right, all right, can we end this 'let's all gang up and pick on James' party now?" James said.

"Nah, mate, I'm only just beginning!" Sirius grinned at his friend and James hunched his shoulders over his plate of toast and eggs.

"Seriously, Prongs, what was going on last night? You kept muttering 'Lily' over and over again," Remus wondered. James shrugged his shoulders, eyes still on the toast that he was slowly picking apart.

"Were you having a nice dream about Lily and her legs?" Sirius joked.

"Shut up, I was not!" James insisted.

"Prongs, it's okay to admit that you fancy Evans again. I mean, seriously mates, those legs. What I wouldn't give to have those legs wrapped around-" Sirius added.

"Shut. Up!" James hissed.

"I think he really does fancy her, mates," Sirius piled on. "He was talking to her yesterday, maybe little Jamesie just got a bit excited-"

"-and don't forget how he fancied her in our first-" Peter started.

"And second!" Remus put in.

"-and third and fourth years."

"I don't fancy Evans," James insisted quietly.

"What's that, Prongs? I didn't quite hear you," Sirius teased.

"I DON'T FANCY LILY EVANS!" James roared. Instantly, the entire Hall was quiet. James blanched, his throat constricting and his ears turning bright red as they always did when he was embarrassed. Chagrin washed over his entire body. He slapped Sirius' shoulder. "Now look what the fuck you did, Padfoot!" Looking around at the rest of the students, he yelled out, "Don't any of you have something else to look at besides me?" Forcing himself not to seek out Lily's face to see her reaction, James flung himself out of his seat and rushed out of the Great Hall.

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><p>"Bloody hell, I'm about to explode," Marlene claimed at breakfast that morning, clutching her stomach.<p>

"Maybe you should lighten up on the, y'know, eating a shit load of food thing?" Mary offered.

"But it was all so good!" Marlene protested. "I feel like I'm carrying a freaking baby."

"With all the sneaking around you've been doing with Caradoc Dearborn, I wouldn't be surprised if you actually were," Mary replied.

"Hey!" Marlene protested, "I'm not _that_ much of a slag!" Mary looked at her with a pointed expression. "Okay, I'm a bit of a slag. But Caradoc and I have always been careful with protection spells, so there is no way that I'm pregnant." Mary rolled her eyes.

"Lily, if you stick your nose further into that parchment, you're going to get ink on your nose," Mary said, turning her attention to their other dorm mate. "Don't you think you've studied enough?" Lily shook her head, her eyes zooming over the piece of paper.

"I've got to get an O on this exam," Lily muttered.

"Why?" Marlene asked. Lily shrugged.

"I just do."

"Are your parents really harsh or something when it comes to your lessons or something?" Marlene asked. Lily sucked in a breath. She suddenly felt guilty that she hadn't thought about her parents since she had arrived at Hogwarts. Her eyes became hot and it took a few moments for her to blink back her tears.

"No, uh, I just need to get an O…" Marlene and Mary exchanged puzzled looks.

"I DO NOT FANCY LILY EVANS!" The entire Hall heard James Potter yell from the halfway down the Gryffindor table. Lily's heartbeat quickened and her face flooded with heat, making her pale cheeks turn bright red. Half of the Great Hall was looking at her and half were looking at James, so Lily kept her head buried in her notes. Marlene and Mary turned to Lily, their mouths agape. Maybe it was a testament to their long-standing friendship, but Lily could swear that she never saw two people who looked so different have the exact same expression on their faces.

"Now look what the fuck you did, Padfoot!" Lily heard James yell at Sirius. A moment later, he added, "Don't any of you have something else to look at besides me?" Lily glanced up instinctually and watched him march out of the Hall.

"Lily, what in the name of Merlin just-" Marlene started, but Lily cut her off, standing up and walking out of the Great Hall in the opposite direction that James had.

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><p>Everywhere she walked that day, Lily felt eyes on her. By the time that she walked into Transfiguration with the Slytherins that afternoon, her patience had evaporated.<p>

"Hey Evans," Mulciber yelled out across the classroom, causing everyone to fall silent, "How does it feel to know that not even Potter-the-blood-traitor wants you?" James jumped up and started rushing over to where Mulciber was standing, but Remus and Peter each grabbed an arm and yanked him back.

"At least I know that someone even thinks about me. Tell me, Mulciber, what is it like to have no one, not even your mother, give any resemblance of a fuck about you?" Lily spit out.

It was so quick that no one could have stopped him. Mulciber uttered a curse that was foreign to every student in the room and an orange light ejected from his wand, hitting Lily squarely in the chest.

Her head hit the corner of a desk and the entire world went blank.

* * *

><p>Since his brothers and his entire extended family on his dad's side died, James couldn't remember feeling that afraid and vulnerable. He had vowed that he would never be caught so off guard, that he would never feel that pain again.<p>

But when he saw Lily Evans go down in the Transfiguration classroom on that day in early October, he felt the rush of terror emanate throughout him once again.

Lily's head hit the sharp corner of a desk as she fell backward. Her body started convulsing in violent spurts just as she hit the ground. Red seeped onto her white blouse, staining it with blood.

James rushed over to Lily and put his hand under her shoulder blades, attempting to sit her up. Wordlessly, Remus rushed over and started performing Healing spells on Lily's thrashing body. James couldn't hear anything and it felt like he was in a daze; nothing seemed clear or real. A blurry Professor McGonagall appeared, levitating Lily off to the hospital wing. James knew that people were talking to him and around him, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Everything was hazy. He felt as though he was trapped in a giant vat of melted Jelly Slugs, unable to move his lips, arms or legs.

It was only as he sat in a chair outside the hospital wing that the world came sharply into focus.

"Prongs! Prooonngsssss. Earth to James!" Sirius said, waving a hand in front of James' face.

"What?" James replied, his voice thick.

"Are you okay, mate?"

"I'm fine. I'm just in shock." Professor Dumbledore walked out of the hospital wing, followed by Professor McGonagall and the new Healer, Madame Pomfrey.

"Professor, is Lily going to be okay?" Remus was the only one of the boys who seemed able to speak at that moment. The adults exchanged looks.

"This next night is going to be critical. Madame Pomfrey here has given Ms. Evans a special potion, but as the curse that Mr. Mulciber used was very Dark magic, we don't know if Ms. Evans is going to be okay," Professor Dumbledore replied quietly. James felt a huge knot manifest in his throat and stomach. "You four boys may go in now, but you must be extremely quiet." The Marauders entered the hospital wing, hurrying over to where Lily was lying.

Her face was even paler than usual, and if it weren't for her bright hair and dark clothing, she would have blended into the sheets. Everything about her appearance was disheveled and un-kept.

"Bloody hell," Sirius breathed from beside James. James felt his head rush and the room started to spin. Plopping down into the chair next to the bed, James took a few deep breaths to steady himself. He reached out and took Lily's cold, pallid hand, running his thumb over her knuckles.

The four Marauders sat there for hours, not speaking, not moving. While Lily wasn't a Marauder, it felt strangely like she had been and not knowing if she was going to survive or not was terrifying every boy.

"Prongs, Madame Pomfrey says we have to go now," Peter said gently. Slightly startled, James looked out to see the sky had turned ink black.

"I'm not going. I'll catch up with you in the morning."

"But James-"

"I said I'm not leaving, Pete!" James said angrily, spinning around to face his friend. Remus placed a hand on Peter's shoulder, tugging the smaller boy along.

* * *

><p>Madame Pomfrey came over to change the sheets in the early hours of the next morning as the sun was not quite visible over the horizon, but the sky was nevertheless painted with a myriad of deep reds, light pinks and bright oranges. She stopped walking when she saw a teenage boy with his back hunched over, resting his head on the girl's legs, their fingers entwined. Turning around, she left the young couple, their breathing in synch as they slept.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>And that's it for Chapter 5!<strong>

**First off, I want to address a review that I got from an anon who talked about how James made Sirius apologize and how Lily didn't apologize and how that wasn't right. I apologize profusely because Lily **_**was**_** supposed to apologize in that chapter! Apparently, when I copy+pasted the file from Word to an .rtf ( won't accept a .docx file, so I have to do it that way), the apologizing didn't make it through. I've since edited that part so that she does actually apologize. Many thanks to that anon who pointed that out!**

**And the second part about how James made Sirius apologize is about how that fact was completely intentional. I didn't want Sirius to take actual responsibility for what he said. From all the reading that I've done of Sirius' character in the books that he was in, Sirius always appeared to me as a character who didn't really take responsibility for anything and I wanted to reflect that in this story.**

**Anyway, constructive criticism and reviews are, as always, much appreciated.**

**Adina**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry that this has been very late. My grandma died a few weeks ago and though it seems like it should be the opposite, my life has been really busy and hectic since then. You all are lovely for having the patience and kindness to stick through this with me.**

* * *

><p>The stone was impossibly smooth and incredibly cold beneath her skin. For the first few seconds after Lily opened her eyes, the freezing floor captured her attention. She was in a dark room, dimly lit by one lamp in the far corner. It contained a plain metal chair in the opposite corner and one door to her right.<p>

The room wasn't familiar to Lily and the foreignness of the entire situation started to scare her. Her ands suddenly felt clammy; her throat went dry. Lily hurried over to the door and attempted to open the door, yanking on the doorknob.

"It's locked," a voice said from behind her. She turned and saw a young man standing in the corner, leaning on the wall with his arms folded tightly across his chest. He looked like he had been handsome in days long gone: his jet-black hair was unkempt and uncombed, dark eyes stood out against his astonishingly pale skin. Unfolding his arms and walking toward her, he added, "And only I'm able to open it, so don't try to use your wand to unlock it." Smirking, he added, "Not that you have a wand, but still. Don't try."

"What did you do with my wand?" Lily demanded in what she hoped was a confident, fearless voice. "Why am I here? Where are we? Why did you bring me here?"

The young man raised an eyebrow, the smirk still resting on his lips. His expression reminded her for a moment of James and for a brief moment, the panic that filled her subsided.

"So many questions!" The smirk died and his eyes ceased to be playful and suddenly filled with despise and hatred. "Don't worry, Mudblood, your questions shall soon be answered."

The man flicked his left fingers and the door swung open. A second man, masked and cloaked to hide his identity, brought a hooded prisoner into the room and sat the captive down in the metal chair.

"Is there anything that you require, my lord?" the masked guard asked in a low voice.

"No, that is all. Leave us."

"'My lord'? So you're-" Lily began and the young man's attention snapped to her.

"Yes, I am Lord Voldemort," he replied, his voice and chest swelling just a little with pride.

"Why am I here?" Lily asked.

Voldemort flicked his fingers again in an act of wandless magic and the prisoner's hood flew off.

It was as if she had been doused in freezing water. Her chest constricted tightly, forcing the air out in audible, shallow breaths. Lily's facet of confidence evaporated as she began to panic.

"You see, Mudbloood, I need to get into Hogwarts but Dumbledore has sealed off almost all of the passageways. And the best hidden passageway leads right into the Head's common room."

"And you can't get in there without me," Lily stated.

"Look who fancies herself a clever witch. But yes, Mudblood, you're going to open the passageway so we can get in," Voldemort responded.

"There is absolutely no way that I am going to do that," Lily hissed.

"That's where you're wrong, Mudblood." Voldemort turned to the prisoner, bending down so that his wand was jammed into James' neck. "Here's where your little blood traitor friend comes in. If you don't make an Unbreakable Vow to help me, I'm going to start hurting your dear boyfriend over here until you do."

Lily started shaking her head, lips tightly pressed together.

"_Crucio!_" Voldemort yelled, a red light emitted from his wand. James screamed in agony, his body twisting and turning so that he fell out of the chair and began writhing on the floor.

"JAMES! STOP! STOP HURTING HIM!" Lily yelled, "JAMES! JAMES!" She tried to run to James, but felt herself hit an invisible wall and fall to the ground. Blood started to gush from a cut on her forehead from whatever she had run into and her vision in her left eye slowly became obstructed from the stream of blood.

"That's the problem with stupid Mudbloods like yourself: you don't think of the most obvious things. You don't actually think that I wouldn't put up a shield between you and the little blood traitor, do you?" Voldemort laughed coldly, "You can stop this, Evans. You can stop all of this by just agreeing to help me."

The screams that the two had been shouting over ceased as James struggled to catch his breath.

"Lily, don't you dare help him. Don't you dare do it, Lily-"

James' words were cut off by another round of screams as the pain suddenly increased. Lily echoed with screams of her own, her throat becoming raw and dry.

"JAMES! JAMES!"

A pair of hands shook her until she opened her eyes. Looking around, Lily saw that she was in the only occupied bed in the hospital wing. James looked down at her, his large hands at her shoulders. Relief flooded his face as their eyes connected.

"Lily, everything's okay. You're okay. You're in the hospital wing. Mulciber hit you with a curse and you blacked out. But you're fine. I'm fine. Everything's okay."

Several moments of awkward silence filled the air, her pants slowly becoming smaller and smaller.

"Merlin, it's so great to see you awake." James hugged her, squeezing his arms around her. "I was really worried about you," he whispered in her ear, the vibrations of his voice in his chest pressed against her. Lily stared across the hall at the white wall; her own arms lay limply at her sides as her friend hugged her.

* * *

><p>He hated everything. He hated feeling helpless, watching her pale face as she lay there because he couldn't do anything to bring her out of her sleep. He hated Mulciber for cursing Evans, he hated Madame Pomfrey for not knowing how to help Lily and he himself for not protecting her. He should have jumped in front of Evans; everyone saw Mulciber pull his wand from his pocket, he should have jumped in front of her and took the curse like a man so that she wouldn't have to be in this situation.<p>

Suddenly, James felt a movement beneath where his hand tightly gripped hers. Lily, who had been silent and still for the three days since she'd been cursed, began to thrash around lightly in her bed. It began with a few rolls of her head. Then her entire torso began to shake and James let go of her hand.

Leaping out of his chair, James sprinted to Madame Pomfrey's office in the back of the hospital wing.

"Madame Pomfrey, something's wrong with Lily!" He informed her, in perhaps a louder tone than was necessary. The healer rushed out of her office and joined him by Lily's bed. By the time that the two reached her, Lily's entire body was jerking violently.

Madame Pomfrey held down Lily's arms in an attempt to contain her, but it was a futile attempt.

"I-I don't know, I've never encountered something like this before," the healer stammered, flustered.

James dashed out of the hospital wing, bringing Professor Dumbledore into the wing after a few minutes.

"Madame Pomfrey, Mr. Potter tells me that Ms. Evans has…" The headmaster began, his speech trailing off as he took in the sight of the tossing Head Girl.

"Professor, I don't know-" Dumbledore held up his hand, stopping Madame Pomfrey from continuing.

"There's nothing that you can do, Madame Pomfrey."

James stared at the two adults in confusion.

"Professor, we can't just let her go on like that; we have to do something!" James yelled. Dumbledore turned to him.

"We must, Mr. Potter. Until we know what kind of curse Ms. Evans was hit with, we cannot help her, even like this. The wrong kind of antidote or healing spell could kill her."

James stared at Lily's thrashing body for many moments, his body frozen. When he blinked and looked around, he found that the two adults had left. Walking to Lily, the sinking feeling that had lodged itself in his chest when she was cursed began to grow deeper and deeper. He berated himself for not being able to help her for hours as she continued to toss in the bed.

"James," Lily moaned as the sky began to darken. His head snapped up, his gaze shifting from his shoes to her face. "Don't hurt him! James!"

Her voice started to get louder and louder. "James! JAMES! JAMES!"

He couldn't bear it any longer. Grasping her shoulders, he began to shake her. The endless minutes ticked by as he tried to wake his friend.

After what felt like an infinity of hours within a few minutes, Lily's eyelids slowly began to open. Hazel met emerald and he breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She was panting from her screams.

"Lily, everything's okay," he began, hoping that-however much he wanted to cry- it didn't come across in his voice. "You're okay. You're in the hospital wing. Mulciber hit you with a curse and you blacked out. But you're fine. I'm fine. Everything's okay."

Her emerald eyes flicked from his eyes to the empty beds around the wing, finally settling on a place above his right shoulder.

After several long moments, he said, "Merlin, it's so great to see you awake."

Flinging his arms around her shoulders, he hugged her tightly, never wanting to let go.

"I was really worried about you," James breathed in Lily's ear. She was awake. Everything was going to be all right again. Absolutely everything.

If only James knew that nothing was going to be the same after that moment. The curse that had hit Lily Evans would change her life, his life and the life of everyone around them, forever.

In the Muggle world, there were some events that were so catastrophic, so tragic, so meaningful, that time could be measured in before and after that event. No one could have known it, but that curse would be a defining event in the Wizarding World. It would change everything.

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><p><strong>And that's Chapter 6! I'm really excited because we're really getting into the heart of the story now. I have a specific plot outlined and this is the beginning of what I believe makes this story different from many of the other fabulous Jily fics out there. <strong>

**Reviews are better than junk food.**

**Adina**


	7. Chapter 7

At one forty-seven in the morning after she left the hospital wing, Lily Evans noticed that the color of the sky matched the color of her hands.

That is, completely ink-black and smudged to create spurts of grey.

Once again in her own four-poster bed, Lily couldn't sleep. But what's more, she didn't want to. So she wrapped her arms around her bony knees, drawing them into her chest until the pressure against her ribs hurt, and stared out her window.

The clouds blocked the twinkling stars so that all Lily could see was black. _Good, _she thought_, just as it should be. _The stars were far too bright and cheery for her to handle at that moment.

Beside Lily lay three stacks of parchment, their edges meticulously aligned so that no edge of parchment stuck out. She'd completed the make-up homework in three hours, her back hunched over so that her elbows rested on her folded legs as she scratched words onto parchment.

Silently and eerily still, Lily sat there for the rest of the night. As her dorm mates awoke and asked what she was doing, she quietly mumbled something about insomnia and began her morning routine without another word.

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><p>"I still can't believe she gave you an E and I got an A," Sirius grumbled as three Marauders strolled to their second class that morning. Peter had failed his Charms O.W.L and had a free period while the others endured an hour of Professor Flitwick constantly complimenting Lily.<p>

"Pads, you, acting like you'd lost the very little brains that you possess, predicted something happy," James pointed out in a condescending tone. "For Spector's class. For Divi-freaking-nation. You know that Spector hates anything that isn't grim."

"So you predicted your own death, Prongs?" Remus responded.

"Naturally," James replied, puffing his chest out a centimeter or two. The other Marauders rolled their eyes as James grinned.

"Have you seen Evans yet this morning?" Sirius asked. Instantly, James' shoulders and chest slouched back down.

"No. Haven't seen her since she woke up. You?"

Sirius shook his head no.

"That's because you two were too busy goofing off in Divination to notice anything," Remus said in a tone that sounded very much like a parent scolding a child. "If you weren't so busy smearing the watered-down tea leaves on each other's cheeks, you might have seen Lily sitting in the back."

James' head snapped to his right, where Remus stood.

"How'd she look, Moony?" James inquired in a low voice, his eyes suddenly soft and serious.

Glancing briefly over James' shoulder at Sirius, Remus sighed.

"Truth or Lie?" Remus wondered. In their first year, the Marauders had devised a code among themselves when one Marauder was upset. It was their way of asking the inflicted Marauder if he wanted the actual truth or a lie that would make him feel better. Only twice had the lie ever been told. And there would only be one more time in the future when a Marauder would hide the truth from a fellow Marauder.

"Truth," James replied.

"She looked like a mess," Remus whispered, leaning in close so that only he, James and Sirius could hear. "She obviously hadn't slept and she doodled on her parchment while Spector was lecturing. She wasn't paying attention at all."

"Hell," Sirius breathed and Remus nodded.

Lily Evans not paying attention in class was just as rare as a Slytherin being nice to a Gryffindor (and vice versa); it just didn't _happen._

"What the bloody fuck happened in that hospital wing, James?" Sirius asked.

Watching as Lily walked through the door to Professor Flitwick's classroom, James shook his head.

"Haven't got a clue."

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><p>It was as if her robes were soaked in water, tripling in weight. Lily walked around the days that followed her release feeling sluggish. She felt as though something was pushing down on her entire body, making her shoulders slouch, her back hunch, her chest tighten and her legs to ache. All she wanted to do all day was lie in her bed, curl up in a tiny ball under her covers and sleep.<p>

Lily threw herself into her work. While she didn't appear to be paying attention, she listened intently as her teachers lectured. She followed instructions diligently and answered questions when called upon. But Lily wasn't volunteering answers anymore, nor was she bantering with James Potter during classes.

* * *

><p>"Lily, are you coming to dinner?" Mary asked two weeks after the incident. Her normally spunky friend hadn't said a word all day. "You must be starving since you didn't have any lunch; come to dinner."<p>

Shaking her head, Lily muttered, "I'm not hungry and I've got loads to do. I'll just see you later." She disappeared in the sea of famished students before Mary had a chance to say anything else.

"Is it just me, or is something off with Lily today?" Mary asked Marlene as the two took their places beside Remus Lupin.

"It's not just you. She hasn't said a word to me all day and it's worrying me," Marlene replied.

"Talking about Lily?" Remus said in a tone that implied it was more of statement than a question.

"Yeah. Has she seemed off to you during patrols, Remus?"

Remus nodded. "She doesn't talk anymore. She'll answer if I ask her a question, but it's always terse."

"I don't think I've seen her eat a meal since she was attacked," Peter put in softly from across the table.

"Talking about Evans?" Sirius questioned and the four nodded. James' head snapped up from where it'd rested on his chest.

"Does she seem…off to you, Sirius?" Mary responded.

"She's Lily Evans; she always seems off to me." The others rolled their eyes. "But yeah, she's different. Doesn't chastise me for being out past curfew or going up the girl's staircase."

"I didn't even know that you knew what the word 'chastise' meant, let alone use it correctly in a sentence," Marlene jabbed.

"I'm a man of many talents, Britten."

"Back to Lily," Remus directed. "What are we going to _do _about it?"

"We could go talk to Dumbledore," Peter offered.

"And what? Have her kicked out of school? No, Wormtail, we can't do that," Sirius retorted.

"We could tell McGonagall," Marlene put in. "Maybe she can get Lily some help or something."

"We can't go to an adult, Britten. They'll kick her out of Hogwarts faster than you can shout 'I'm sorry'."

"How about you come up with an idea, Black? I'm sure we'd all love to hear something from the prank mastermind himself."

"I resent that tone-"

"Quiet, you festering idiots!" James reprimanded in a hushed tone. "You can't let anyone hear you, or they'll report Lily to Dumbledore."

"What should we do, Prongs?" Remus asked.

"We can't do anything, Moony. Anything we do, anyone we tell, will get her into big trouble."

"So we're supposed to wait as she destroys herself and _hope_ that she suddenly becomes better overnight?" Marlene responded indignantly.

"I never said it was the best plan. But it's the one we've got." James eyed each of the five people staring back at him. "Everyone's got to swear that they won't tell anyone-especially not a teacher-until we have a better plan."

And so, as Lily Evans sat in the library, back hunched over an Arithmancy problem, her friends sat in the Great Hall and pledged their temporary apathy and silence.

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><p><strong>And thus ends Chapter 7. I hope you guys enjoyed it. This chapter was interesting to write because much of what Lily is experiencing was inspired by my own depression and so putting the physical and mental feelings that I felt during a really dark time in my life (and to a lesser extent now) was an interesting exercise. One of my favorite people, a man by the name of AJ Holmes, once said, "Writing is really taking what you do know and bringing it to something that you don't" and that's something that I'm trying to do with this story. <strong>**  
><strong>

**Anyway, please review with any feedback you have. It was weird for me because I was really proud of the last chapter and thought it was one of the better chapters in this fic, and no one had anything to say about it. It's super helpful to get any comments or feedback you might have on this story so I know how to improve it. **

**Thanks for indulging me on this extremely long Author's Note. Reviews are better than ice cream. **

**-Adina**


	8. Chapter 8

"Fuck," Lily swore under her breath. The uniform skirt that had once fitted perfectly to her frame slipped down her hips as the seventh-year Gryffindors walked to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Do you want help, Lils?" Mary asked gently as the three girls walked from Herbology.

"I don't need your help, MacDonald," Lily snapped, her tired eyes narrowing. "And don't call me 'Lils' in that patronizing tone of yours. I'm not a bloody child."

Startled, Mary's open mouth clamped shut.

"Mary was only trying to help, Lily-" Marlene began.

"Yeah, well I don't need her help. Not hers, not yours. In case you haven't noticed, I'm doing perfectly fine on my own; I don't need you."

With that, Lily yanked her book strap tighter against her shoulder and stormed off.

"What just happened, Britten?" Sirius asked. The other three Marauders stood slightly behind him.

"Lily's in another one of her moods again, Black; same thing she's been in for a month now. Nothing exactly _Daily Prophet_ worthy."

"I've got to do something," James muttered. He started running in the direction that Lily had disappeared in.

"What happened to waiting until we have a better plan, James?" Mary called out to him.

"This_ is_ the better plan, MacDonald!" James called over his shoulder.

"Should we be going to help him?" Mary asked the rest of the group.

Remus shook his head.

"No. Let them be. Maybe he'll finally get through to her."

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><p>After sprinting out of the Great Hall, James ducked into the closest corner and pulled out the Marauder's Map, tapping it with his wand.<p>

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he muttered. The Map came alive in his hands, the footprints of everyone at Hogwarts traveling throughout the parchment.

James eagerly skimmed the parchment, looking for the banner that said "L. Evans" in neat script, until there she was, pacing in the common room of the Heads' dorm.

"Mischief managed," he whispered, stashing the Map in his pocket and running to their room.

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><p>When he cranked open the heavy door, he saw that she had stopped pacing. Instead, she was sitting on the floor, knees curled up into her chest and head buried in her knees. Her shoulders were heaving with her cries. Immediately after she heard the door open, however, she leapt to her feet, drying her last tears on her sleeve.<p>

"What the hell do you want, Potter?" Lily spat.

"I was worried about you. You bit off Macdonald's head so harshly there, I wouldn't be surprised if she looked like Nearly Headless Nick right about now." He shrugged, the smirk returning to his face. "Who knows? Maybe they would get married and be the Nearly Headless Couple of Hogwarts."

"Stop making jokes, Potter, I'm not in the mood."

He held up his hands in surrender.

"Hey, I get it, no jokes. Just trying to lighten the mood here, no need to dagger me with your eyes."

"I'm not daggering you with my eyes!"

"Well, of course you are. Look at that, right there," he pointed to an invisible spot on his sweater, "Do you see that huge gash? That's from your daggers. I tell ya, you're a ruthless opponent."

An involuntary smile graced her lips for a second before she wiped it away.

"Didn't I tell you not to crack jokes?"

He grinned in response.

A moment or two of silence went by until she said in a tired voice, "Why are you here, Potter?"

"I told you, I was worried. We all are."

"Well there's no need to be worried. I'm fine."

"You can't expect me to believe that, Evans. This person," he gestured at her, "who yells at her friends and doesn't pay attention in class, that's not you."

"Maybe it is and you just never noticed, Potter."

James shook his head.

"No. I'd have noticed. This isn't you."

"Oh, because you're my best friend? You obviously must know everything about me, then. You must know how my sister hates me. You must know that my parents can't afford all the supplies for Hogwarts, so I have to work during the summer to pay for my books. You must know how even if I didn't have to work, I'd probably do it anyway because I've got no friends outside of Hogwarts. You must know that ever since Mulciber hit me with that curse, I haven't been able to sleep or eat," she rattled off in one breath. Once she had realized what she said, Lily turned around to face the window.

"You're not okay, Lily," James stated.

Spinning around with her arms open, Lily screamed, "WELL OF COURSE I'M NOT OKAY, YOU BLOODY IDIOT!"

Calming down slightly and folding her arms, she added, "Of course I'm not okay. This terrible thing happened to me and I'm supposed to go on pretending like I'm fine? I can't do that, Potter. I can't and I won't."

James stepped closer so that they were mere centimeters apart.

"I saw you die, James," Lily whispered, unfolding her arms so that they had no choice but to rest on his chest. "Voldemort, he-he was torturing you because he wanted something from me and I saw you die." Her throat tightened up as she looked at him, realization dawning in his eyes. "I can't pretend like I'm okay with that. I can't pretend like I'm okay after Voldemort tortures someone that's so important to me…"

A slight frown of confusion hit James' eyebrows as he thought about what she'd said, his fingertips ghosting along the sides of her cheeks. But this wasn't the time for that; he needed to reassure her, not indulge his teenage hormones.

Wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug, he rested his cheek on the top of her head.

After many long moments of silence, he murmured, "So you think I'm important, huh?"

She laughed into his chest so that he felt the vibrations of her joy.

"Don't let it swell that big head of yours any more, Potter."

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><p><strong>I'm so sorry that it has taken abnormally long for me to post this latest chapter. Hopefully, it was worth the wait, though. As always, reviews and feedback are very much appreciated! <strong>

**-Adina**


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